One of my favorite character types in Fallout 3 was a Big Guns character. Charge straight in and mow things down with the Gatling Laser, launch some missiles and burn things with the Flamer/Incinerator. Sniping is really strong, but sometimes it just gets boring.

In Las Vegas the Big Guns skill has been removed. So I am toying around with two different builds - going guns, energy weapons and explosives to get all the big guns. But I am not sure if I should bother with guns - is the mini gun and light machine gun any good? Or is the Gatling Laser a lot stronger? Maybe just go Energy Weapons and Explosives.

The second variation I am thinking of is a Guns and Melee character. Blast from a distance with some automatic rifles then close in and crush some heads with a Super Sledge. But I have also read that Unarmed is stronger then Melee. So which is better Melee or Unarmed? Or would it be better to just use a Shotgun at close range?

For special I was thinking of setting a Strength of 8 and endurance at 7. Not using any companions so I am thinking of dropping Charisma down to a 2-3. Also, not sure if I need luck or agility. I was also planning on going in hardcoe mode.

MG > GL. GL doesn't have AP rounds.

Also, Explosives is a very good secondary or even primary skill for assault.

Technically, "Assault" means you'll be doing everything close quarters. So Melee and SMG's would be your weapons of choice.

Well, both mini and gatling svcks,

So you are down to Flamer, Incinerator, Heavy Incinerator,Plasma Caster, Tesla Cannon,Missile launcher and Grenade Machinegun. That's just EW and explosive, easy.

Your only problem would be weight; but between High Strength (you can actually pump it to 9 since high intelligence doesn't do much), Strong Back and possibly Pack Rat; you should be fine.

EDIT: I think the correct term is "Havoc"

Stinks mto hear that both MG and GL are weak! I was thinking that the new DR system was going to nerf automatic weapons hard. If I do go EW and explosives I am a little worried about the early levels. Thinking my character will not be able to assulat or havoc with a Laser Pistol! LOL. How about running Melee or Unarmed a little bit in the low levels until I get a Flamer? Unless you can get one early on. I think you can get an Incinerator early, but repairs will be a problem.

Explosives is very viable early on through crafty use of Dynamite. You can get your first Grenade Rifle in Novac.

Melee is pretty powerful to go charging in with. It can get a bit boring OHKing everything with normal hits with Oh Baby! though.

Edit: Strange Double Post

I have such a character in play right now; Special 7674365 (i think), tag skills are guns, explosives and survival, minor skills are repair, medicine and melee weapons.

Current armament is Bumper Sword, Assault Carbine, LMG and Grenade Launcher. Once i get skills up i'll switch Assault Carbine for Minigun and Greande Launcher for Grenade MG. And try to fit a Missile Launcher somewhere.

Armor is Combat Armor mk2 until i get my hands on a Power Armor, companion is Gannon for the Improved Healing perk (though Raul could be more useful for the Regular Maintenance perk) and his personal quest

Level 17, so far so good.

Go with guns/melee with decent strength 8 or 9 after implant and luck 10.

Charge right in with super sledge and super slam perk and you can wipe out dozens of human or robot enemies pretty easily, even on very hard difficulty setting while you are wearing light armor or no armor. if you have a couple doses of turbo, you can do exactly the same thing with a pack of deathclaws or cazadores, without using VATS at all.

with luck 10 nearly every hit will be critical, knocking them to the ground and crippling their limbs as they keep trying to stand back up.

Thanks for the comments!

@harmy - I don't remember seeing a GL in Novac. Any hints where it is kind of at?

@Celery - I keep reading that. Seems like Melee is really powerful. Is it only strong if you take a lot of melee perks? Or just straight up?

@Tojka - Guns and explosives - another fun combo. Throw in a mix of melee. So how does Melee compare with Shotguns or a Flamer? In Fallout 3 I would stop using Melee the instant I had a Flamer and the Pyro perk.

@Booty - Is luck really that useful? I thought the knockdown on Super Slam did not depend on crits. No light armor here - going Heavy Armor. He, he - big toys for big boys!

So many things to try!

Melee and Unarmed and explosives i would say would be your combat skills. Not sure if you should tag them but if your planning on using alot of violence to solve all of your problems, just drop Charisma to 1.

It basically only affects companion nerve, so no companions means no charisma.
Make
STR 9
END9
INT9

That way you get more skill points and are very effective with melee and unarmed.

As for Super Slam, it works wonder. I would also like to know if that is dependant on a critical.
If you take lots of melee perks it is beastly but still very effective by itself.

Well, Flamer is an Energy Weapon with skill limit of 50 in this game, so i don't use it with this character. I suppose i could throw a riot shotgun at that loadout, but that character is all about BIG guns. "An Assault Carbine...? I guess i can use it until i get my hands on a real gun...

The Bumper Sword is really only for enemies that don't justify the use of ammo, the rest i shoot.

Edit: :facepalm: "Bumper" not "Buster" :blush: